1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bottomed, conical edible container, its production process and its production apparatus for containing frozen confections such as soft ice cream and ice cream as well as various other types of food products, said edible container having a small apparent specific gravity, being lightweight and porous, and preferably having a crispy texture when eaten.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The edible base materials for edible containers that are sold in the form of containing frozen confections such as soft ice cream or ice cream served in stores are typically kneaded after blending a large amount of water with raw materials such as wheat flour by the respective manufacturer to form a so-called dough. This dough is then baked to form a sheet on a high-temperature heating plate, and then formed into a conical shape. This is then packaged as a waffle cone and distributed to ice cream and soft ice cream stores. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,672 filed by the applicant of the present invention for an example of this prior art.
Although this type of waffle cone is the main form of edible containers conventionally used in the sales of frozen confections, since these waffle cones are formed to have a pointed bottom, they have the disadvantage of not being able to be set down as is.
In addition, in the case of forming a flat bottom for this waffle cone to enable it to be set down, after wrapping the peripheral wall in the shape of a cup, the bottom end of the peripheral wall is bent to form the bottom. As a result, the so-called dough dries rapidly thereby causing a deficiency of flexibility. Consequently, the portion that serves as the bottom ends up braking easily when bent thus resulting in the disadvantage of being unable to form the bottom surface.
Moreover, even if bending of the bottom surface is made possible by heating the dough before wrapping to return its softness to enable bending, not only are a heating device and time for returning softness required, a process is also necessary for bending the bottom surface and sealing the bent bottom surface. This resulted in the disadvantage of expenses accompanying these processes causing increases in costs.
On the other hand, when a flat sheet of dough to serve as an edible container in the form of a flat sheet is formed with a press mold that forms the dough into the shape of a cup, molding defects occur frequently, including cracks forming in the flat sheet and wrinkles forming in those portions that are not extended, thus resulting in disadvantages such as a lack of profitability.